us media: the us air force is forced to continue upgrading the f-22 fighter
2024-09-24
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reference news reported on september 24on september 20, the website of the u.s. bimonthly magazine national interest published an article titled "the inside story of the u.s. air force's plan to turn the f-22 raptor into an aerial killer," written by brandon weichert. the full text is excerpted as follows:
the united states finds itself in the most severe global threat environment in the past 80 years. in many ways, the current situation is more dangerous and unstable than the nuclear standoff during the cold war.
multiple countries are vying for dominance in their respective regions, and they are rapidly benefiting from the spread of high technology, knowledge, and skills, believing they can overturn the world order led by the united states. given the united states’ relative decline and overall weakness in the face of these threats, america’s adversaries may be right.
the deterrence strategy that has been the backbone of u.s. national security since the cold war has failed. today, many adversaries are rising and do not seem to be worried about the u.s. military capabilities or resolve. this fact shows that the u.s. deterrence has long been significantly reduced. therefore, now washington is working hard to restore its lost deterrence.
f-22 raptor fighter jet (afp file photo)
the u.s. air force is reportedly making a major push to upgrade its fleet of f-22 raptor fighter jets (pictured). the air force "signed a $1 billion contract with raytheon technologies corp.'s raytheon company for new sensors, spare parts and support equipment," aviation enthusiast reported last month.
new sensors installed on f-22 fighter jets are designed to enhance their air superiority capabilities.
the u.s. air force faces a dual problem with the f-22 fighter. first, there aren't enough of these important fighters for the u.s. air force. second, the air force has begun an effort to retire dozens of older f-22 fighters, arguing that they are too old to be used in combat no matter how they are upgraded.
so why not build a new f-22 fighter?
because during the global financial crisis, the obama administration chose to hastily cancel the f-22 fighter production line in order to save money. this was obviously a short-sighted decision. most experts believe that restarting this production line will be more expensive than simply developing the sixth-generation "next generation air dominance" program (ngad) project.
of course, this is a ridiculous claim when you consider that each ngad fighter could cost as much as $300 million. with congress hesitating over the price of ngad and senior air force leaders admitting that it is impractical to develop ngad under current budget constraints, the air force appears to be changing its stance on the f-22 fighter. they are modernizing these fighters to ensure they continue to be relevant.
but why not just rebuild the f-22 production line?
the reason is that no matter how advanced each f-22 is, or how advanced it will be after upgrades, the fact is that there are still a limited number of f-22s. if a major conflict occurs with an adversary close to the united states, the americans will undoubtedly rely on these limited number of f-22s to engage in an aerial duel with the adversary.
however, whatever technological advantages the f-22 may have over its competitors, such as china’s fifth-generation j-20 “vigorous dragon” fighter, the fact is that china is already able to mass-produce the fighter.
given china's manufacturing capabilities, china will be able to build more j-20 fighters. once the f-22 fighters are destroyed, they cannot be replaced.
the report said that the u.s. air force should indeed upgrade all 186 f-22 fighters, but it should also go further and call for restarting the f-22 fighter production line. more importantly, the pentagon should insist on - and congress should approve - selling f-22 fighters to america's closest allies, such as the united kingdom, australia, japan, south korea and israel, to help offset the huge cost of restarting the f-22 fighter production line. (compiled by hu wei)
